Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education – Region III Central Luzon

DIVISION OF CITY OF SAN FERNANDO

Self-Instructional Packets (SIPacks)

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
Quarter 2 (2nd Semester) – WEEK 6
A. Content Standards:
The learners demonstrate an understanding of cultural, social, and political institutions as sets of the
agents/ institutions, processes, and outcomes of cultural, political, and social change
B. Performance Standards:
The learners analyze aspects of social organization advocate how human societies should adapt to
such changes
C. Most Essential Learning Competencies:
MELC No.12: Examine human responses to emerging challenges in contemporary societies

Lesson/Topic: Contemporary Challenges and Responses

References:
https://www.reference.com/world-view/contemporary-society-mean-892684b85921578a
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_society
https://www.nrc.no/news/2018/may/10-things-you-should-know-about-migration-and-
refugees/#:~:text=Refugees%20are%20forced%20to%20flee,a%20range%20of%20other%20purposes.
https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/news-events/key-facts-poverty-and-poor-
health/#:~:text=Poverty%20is%20both%20a%20cause,most%20vulnerable%20people%20each%20year.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/famine/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0044118X6900100102?journalCode=yasa

D. Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to:

1. identify new challenges faced by human populations in contemporary societies;

2. describe how human societies adapt to new challenges

Procedure:
A. Reviewing previous lesson or presenting the new lesson
Instruction: Let’s assess you knowledge about the previous topic by answering the question below.
(No need to write the answer you may answer it verbally.)
Give one example of social inequality and suggest atleast one on how to address it.

B. Establishing the purpose of the lesson

What is contemporary society? What are the challenges faced by the contemporary society?

C. Presenting examples/instances of the new lesson

Instruction: Look at the picture below and describe the significant idea that it conveys? (No need to write the
answer you may answer it verbally.)

Page 1 of 4
D. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #1

Contemporary society refers to the modern society, in existence at the time being, and the social features it
relates to. It is a dynamic reference, with the exact features being referred to changing from generation to
generation.
 Contemporary society, according to social and political scientists, is characterised by at least three
fundamental directions:
 increasing human interconnection through a network of relationships that is progressively covering
the whole planet;
 the pace and depth of the evolution of human ways of life determined by technological
innovation represent an absolute novelty in human history;
 the scale of anthropological and ecological transformation due to the interaction
between evolutionary factors (social, cultural, economic, and technological) has no historical
precedent.

These presentations are the result of a number of fundamental changes that are irreversibly transforming our
daily lives, our way of thinking and perceiving the world and our way of living together. Among these
fundamental changes are: improvements in life conditions, life expectancy, literacy and gender equality;
changes in domestic and international political institutions; and the breakdown of natural equilibria

E. Discussing new concepts and practicing new skills #2

Some of the challenges faced by the contemporary society are:

 Migrations of refugees and others
 Ethno-religious conflicts
 New technologies
 Terrorism
 Poverty
 Poor health
 Illiteracy
 Famine

Migrations of refugees and others

Migration is the movement of individuals or groups of people. The term is used about movement both within
and across borders.
A ‘migrant' is fundamentally different from a refugee. Refugees are forced to flee to save their lives or
preserve their freedom, but ‘migrant' describes any person who moves, usually across an international
border, to join family members already abroad, to search for a livelihood, to escape a natural disaster, or for a
range of other purposes. However, refugees and migrants often employ the same routes, modes of transport,
and networks. Movements of both refugees and migrants are commonly referred to as ‘mixed movements'. It
is important to distinguish the different categories of person in mixed migratory movements, and apply the
appropriate framework of rights, responsibilities and protection.

Ethno-religious conflicts
‘Ethno-religious conflicts’ refer to those involving groups where religion is an integral part of social and cultural
life, and religious institutions are representative, possess moral legitimacy, and mobilization potential. Where
conflicting groups define themselves along ethno-religious lines, religious identity can create sharp
distinctions between parties, and increase group mobilization.

New technologies
New technologies change the world irreversibly. These changes do not necessarily need to be only
positive. Herbicides and insecticides raised agricultural yields but turned out to accumulate in food chains
and therefore threatened wildlife. Chlorofluorocarbons made refrigerators much safer but turned out to
deplete the ozone layer that protects life from solar UV radiation. These technologies created catastrophic
side effects. A different category of effects is much harder to assess: the effects that are not directly caused
by a new technology itself, but by the changes in human behavior that it provokes.

Page 2 of 4
Terrorism
has an impact on the societies that it affects or targets. While this impact can be one-off or limited,
nowadays—with the terrorism of radical Islamic groups such as al-Qaeda and, more recently, ISIS—it tends
to be heavy and long lasting, even if it does change over time.
Terrorism aims to create terror, a feeling of insecurity, and the idea that leaders can no longer protect those
they lead. It leaves people stunned, and has an emotional impact that lives on through its political
implications.

Poverty
Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. In the past 4 decades, the proportion of
households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly.
The main causes of poverty in the country include the following:
 low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years;
 low growth elasticity of poverty reduction;
 weakness in employment generation and the quality of jobs generated;
 failure to fully develop the agriculture sector;
 high inflation during crisis periods;
 high levels of population growth;
 high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of
economic expansion; and
 recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and
"environmental poverty."

Poverty and poor health worldwide are inextricably linked.

What links poverty and poor health?

 Poverty and poor health worldwide are inextricably linked. The causes of poor health for millions
globally are rooted in political, social and economic injustices. Poverty is both a cause and a
consequence of poor health. Poverty increases the chances of poor health. Poor health, in turn,
traps communities in poverty. Infectious and neglected tropical diseases kill and weaken millions
of the poorest and most vulnerable people each year
 Very poor and vulnerable people may have to make harsh choices – knowingly putting their
health at risk because they cannot see their children go hungry, for example.
 The cultural and social barriers faced by marginalized groups – including indigenous communities
– can mean they use health services less, with serious consequences for their health. This
perpetuates their disproportionate levels of poverty

Illiteracy
affects all areas of life. Those with low literacy skills are far more likely to live in poverty, face health
problems because they can’t read prescription labels or instructions, and grow isolated in a world
increasingly dependent on computers.

Famine
A widespread condition in which many people in a country or region are unable to access adequate
food supplies. Famines result in malnutrition, starvation, disease, and high death rates.
A natural disaster, such as a long period of drought, flooding, extreme cold, typhoons, insect
infestations, or plant disease, combined with government decisions on how to respond to the disaster,
can result in a famine. The famine might be initiated by a natural disaster, and a government's inability
or unwillingness to deal with the consequences of that event may magnify the effects.

F. Developing mastery
Read the statement below and answer the following questions.
It is a well-known fact that the youth of any country is a great asset. They are indeed the future of the
country and represent it at every level. The role of youths in nation-building is more important than you
might think. In other words, the intelligence and work of the youth will take the country on the pathway of
success. As every citizen is equally responsible, the youth is too. They are the building blocks of a country.
As a youth in your community you observed/encounter challenges that affects the daily lives of the people
in the community.
1. What kind of challenges does your community faced/facing?
Page 3 of 4
2. How would you describe the response of the people on your community to the identified challenges?
3. As a youth what can you suggest to address the challenges?

G. Finding practical applications of concepts and skills in daily living

Performance Task
Choose one of the challenges faced by contemporary society and make a poster that describe/illustrate
how society adapt to the challenges. Use separate sheet of paper/bond paper for this activity.
Your poster will be checked by the criteria below
Originality 10 points
Creativeness 20 points
Relevance to the topic 20 points
Total 50 points

H. Making generalizations and abstractions about the lesson

 A contemporary issue refers to an issue that is currently affecting people or places and that is
unresolved.
 Contemporary society refers to the modern society, in existence at the time being, and the social
features it relates to. It is a dynamic reference, with the exact features being referred to changing
from generation to generation.

I. Evaluating learning – Weekly Assessment (Written Work)

Test A: Read the following statements. Write FACT if the statement is correct. BLUFF if the statement is
incorrect. (5 points)
1. Famines result in malnutrition, starvation, disease, and high death rates.
2. Terrorism aims to create terror and feeling of security.
3. Poverty decreases the chances of poor health
4. Those with high literacy skills are far more likely to live in poverty.
5. Refugees are forced to flee to save their lives or preserve their freedom.

Test B: Identification: Read each question carefully. Identify what is being asked and choose your answer on
the box below. (5 points)
Refugees Terrorism Migration Contemporary Famines
Society

1. Refers to the modern society, in existence at the time being, and the social features it relates to. It is a
dynamic reference, with the exact features being referred to changing from generation to generation.
2. The movement of individuals or groups of people.
3. They are forced to flee to save their lives or preserve their freedom.
4. It leaves people stunned, and has an emotional impact that lives on through its political implications.
5. Result in malnutrition, starvation, disease, and high death rates

Test C: List & Explain. Directions: List down at least five (5) social networking sites and explain how these
can be useful to the people. Write your answer on separate sheet of paper. (3 points each = 15 points)

Example: Video Sites – You can watch different types of videos using these.
1. ___________________ - _________________________________________________
2. ___________________ - _________________________________________________
3. ___________________ - _________________________________________________
4. ___________________ - _________________________________________________
5. ___________________ - _________________________________________________

J. Additional activities for application or remediation

Completing the sentences
1. After reading the lesson, I learned that: ______________________________________________
2. The topic that I like the most is ____________________________________________________
3. As a gen student, how will you respond and cope up in this trying times of pandemic?
_____________________________________________________________________________

Page 4 of 4